


Kitchen Adventures

by Narina



Series: February Ficlet Challenge [10]
Category: Fire Emblem Heroes, Fire Emblem Series
Genre: M/M, Mention of Soren/Ike, Pre-Relationship, trying to cook
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-11
Updated: 2018-02-11
Packaged: 2019-03-16 22:31:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13645770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Narina/pseuds/Narina
Summary: When both Xander and Ryoma are put on kitchen duty, they realize how hard cooking actually is.





	Kitchen Adventures

Xander had not expected to be put on kitchen duty. He understood why it was happening, of course, but he was caught by surprise and now he stood in front of too many vegetables to know where and how to start. As the crown prince, he had learned many things. Cooking was not among them. 

Before he could wonder if he should ask someone, the door opened and, bringing a gust of cold wind and the sight of Ryoma. Was this one of the summoner’s plans to make everyone get along? Well, he supposed it could have been worse. Ryoma would not poison something on purpose or try and sabotage him. 

“Ah. I suppose we’ll be working together.”

“Yes.” Xander turned to face the vegetables again. “Do you know how to cook?”

“I had hoped you could teach me.”

“I’m afraid not.” He sighed. “I only cooked once before and that was during the Concubine War.”

“The what?” Ryoma stepped closer, eyeing the food as if it would turn itself into a meal if he just glared long enough. 

“A few years of my father’s mistresses trying to kill each other and their children. And me, but I was a good fighter and had Camilla on my side.” He shook his head. “I don’t think now is the time to talk about this. In any case, it was Leo’s birthday and Camilla wanted to make him something special. So I tried to do what she said without setting anything on fire.”

Ryoma’s laugh was friendly enough for Xander to relax a little. “Well, I know how to make Sushi but if I tried to make enough for the whole army, it’d take a long time. Can we ask Camilla?”

“She said something about being busy today.” Xander scratched the back of his head. “Aren’t there any instructions around here?”

“I believe the word you are looking for is recipe.”

“Yes, that. This is a big army, someone must’ve brought one with them.”

Ryoma nodded slowly. “Let’s take a look.”

In the end, the only recipes they found were written in languages neither of them understood. Sure, the Order of Heroes was home to many people from different worlds, but why had no one from their own home thought to bring recipes? 

“I’m starting to think we have a problem.”

“Why don’t you just give them what you have?” Both of them whirled around, hands on their weapons as they heard the new voice. They relaxed when they saw Celica. The woman had a curious look on her face. “There’s so much!”

“These are raw vegetables.” Xander did the best he could to hide his confusion. Why would anyone want an uncooked potato? 

“Oh, that’s not that bad. Back home, we gave out flour all the time.”

“You gave flour to your soldiers? With nothing else? And they still followed you into battle?”

Celica shrugged. “Well, I’m sure Alm can tell you more. But sometimes he handed out oranges!”

Xander looked at Ryoma who appeared to be just as clueless as he felt. “Thank you for your advice,” he said, making Celica smile widely. “We will consider it.”

“Great!” With that, she left the kitchen again. Xander had no idea why she had been here in the first place, but maybe she had simply overheard them and wanted to offer some advice.”

“You won’t actually consider it, do you?”

“Of course not!” Xander shook his head, opening one of the drawers again to pull out a recipe that seemed to involve potatoes and other vegetables. “Who do you think I am?”

“Nohrian Scum?”

He turned around, saw the grin on Ryoma’s face and sighed. “You spend too much time with your siblings. I’m going to find someone who can translate this, can you boil water? I think we might need that.” There were a few pictures on the recipe, so he hoped he got that right.

“No problem.”

It took him longer than expected to find someone who knew this language. Ike finally pointed him to Soren who was probably studying and _needed to get some fresh air_. Xander didn’t ask what Soren had done that his own boyfriend was too afraid to drag him out of his study. Luckily, his days of being shy and anxious were in the past. Back then, the grumble that came from Soren’s study as he knocked would’ve scared him.

“I need your help.”

“I’m busy.”

“Yes, Ike said you would be. But he also said you needed some fresh air or at least a distraction.”

Soren glared at him but Xander still thought he wasn’t as scary as Peri. “I said I’m busy.”

Xander sighed. “The longer we keep having this discussion, the longer I will stay. Could you please just translate this?”

Soren glared but he took the paper and grabbed some ink. “That’s a recipe,” he stated.

“I’m aware.” Xander leaned against the doorframe. “If there’s anything in it you don’t like, now it’s your chance to leave that out before it will be served as dinner.”

Whatever Soren mumbled, it was too quiet for him to understand. He was just glad he got the translation back quickly – and he couldn’t even thank Soren because a gust of wind closed the door as soon as he had the paper back. Someone was in a bad mood.

Back in the kitchen, Ryoma had gotten company. Xander needed a moment to recognize the girl as Mae and he raised an eyebrow.

“Oh, you have it? Ryoma said you were going to get that recipe translated.”

“It’s done.” He placed it on the table. “Are you on duty today?”

“No, not actually. But Celica said she gave you advice and honestly, I couldn’t live with that. Especially because she will be cooking tomorrow.”

“Gods.” Ryoma sounded as if he wanted to curse and honestly, Xander wanted to hear that. “So tomorrow’s dinner will be flour?”

“Maybe.” Mae grabbed the recipe, set off to chop some vegetables and hummed a foreign tune. 

“We really should eat elsewhere.”

“Are you asking me out on a date?” Xander supressed a grin as Ryoma blushed slightly.

“Well, if you want to call it a date … yes.”

“Good. As long as it doesn’t involve anything raw.”

**Author's Note:**

> Do you know how hard it is to write "Soren" when you actually know a Sören and a Søren in real life? If I made a mistake somewhere, please let me know


End file.
